Confused trade unions seek W Burdwan DM’s intervention on SIR
The Statesman | 3 January 2026
In the wake of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, authorities of nationalised steel plants have issued fresh circulars asking workers to submit declarations, sharing details from the electoral rolls, including confirmation for deletion of their or their spouse’s names if enrolled in any Assembly constituency earlier.
The Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP), under the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), has issued such circulars and appointed nodal officers in each service shop of the plant for the purpose. The declarations, referred to in DSP circular No. DSP/PERS-NW/SIR/2025/2918 as Format-B, along with another declaration in Format-A1 authorised by the nodal officers and the respective heads of departments, are to be submitted to a higher nodal authority for further action.
The declarations also require personal details of the workers’ spouses. Similar instructions, signed by Anjali Rana, Senior Manager (HR), SAIL, have been forwarded to workers and executives of IISCO Steel Plant, Burnpur, and Alloy Steels Plant, Durgapur.
A Chatterjee, Assistant General Manager (HR-NW) of DSP, issued the circulars on 24 December to nearly 6,000 workers and executives of the plant, asking for submission within a week. However, Smita Pandey, the Election Commission’s Roll Observer for West Burdwan, expressed ignorance about the move by the SAIL units. Speaking to The Statesman, she said: “It is possibly an instruction to PSUs from the EC office. We were not aware of this.”
The move has triggered concern among functioning trade unions, which fear a parallel SIR being conducted by the SAIL authorities. The CITU has sought clarification from the DSP management, while the Congress-affiliated INTUC has approached the District Magistrate of West Burdwan seeking intervention.
Debesh Chakraborty, district president of the Congress, said: “We have brought the matter to the notice of the DM, raising doubts over whether DSP can compel employees to provide such personal details by floating a parallel SIR, especially when workers and their family members have already submitted SIR enumeration forms and hearings are still in progress.”
The circular issued by AGM A Chatterjee states that it is “in accordance with the instructions of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal”. Notably, the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works under the ministry of railways also issued a separate ‘urgent’ circular on 26 December seeking similar details for sanitisation under the SIR.